Amber Home Carers Surrey

Updated 24 July 2026

Date of inspection: 29 and 30 July 2026

Amber Home Carers Surrey provides personal care to people in supported living settings and older people living in their own homes. This report is in relation to the supported living settings, which at the time of our assessment were provided across 7 separate settings. During our assessment we visited 6 of those settings. The service is also registered to provide treatment for disease, disorder or injury. However, the manager told us they were not utilising this part of their registration. The manager had been appointed following our last inspection and had applied to register with CQC.

The inspection took place to follow up on concerns identified during our previous inspection where the service was rated inadequate and placed into special measures. At this inspection we found improvements had been made although continued development was required to ensure systems were fully embedded into practice and sustained. We found 1 continued breach of regulation in relation to good governance. Improvements had been made in relation to person-centred care, dignity and respect, safe care and treatment, and safeguarding and the provider was no longer in breach of these regulations.

We have assessed the service against ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ guidance to make judgements about whether the provider guaranteed people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. We found that whilst people’s safety, opportunities and choices had increased, on-going work was required to ensure people were always at the centre of their support and able to live as ordinary a life as possible.

People, relatives, staff and partner agencies gave positive feedback regarding the manager of the service and the changes made. However, there were on-going shortfalls in how the quality of the service was assessed, how incidents were reported externally, the maintenance of records and how on-going improvements were planned.

Systems were in place to monitor accidents and incidents and ensure lessons were learnt. Clear reporting processes were followed, although overarching themes were not analysed to support staff learning and minimise the risk of recurrence. The improvements made, along with environmental changes and a number of people now living alone had led to a significant reduction in incidents and people’s levels of anxiety. Medicines were managed safely with regular checks completed to identify any errors promptly.

Staff told us they felt supported and valued in their roles. Enhanced training had been provided which had helped staff to develop a greater understanding of their responsibilities and the people they supported. Staff worked as a team and communicated openly about any concerns. There was an open culture throughout the staff team which had a clear impact on the support people received.

This service has been in Special Measures since March 2026. The provider demonstrated improvements that have been made. The service is no longer rated as inadequate overall or in any of the key questions. Therefore, this service is no longer in Special Measures.

Updated 24 July 2026

People appeared comfortable with the staff supporting them and readily approached them when they required support. Staff demonstrated a greater understanding of people’s communication needs and had worked with professionals, relatives and as a staff team to recognise and reduce people’s anxiety and episodes of distresses behaviour. People were supported by a consistent staff team who were getting to know them well.

Whilst relatives recognised the improvements made and the development of staff skills, they told us they felt staff needed further training to gain a more skilled approach to supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people. They consider people’s unique backgrounds and life histories which could be used to develop people’s interests and set goals for people going forward.

Changes had been made to properties which meant people were living in environments which were more homely, safer and cleaner. Staff encouraged people to take an increased role in the running of their home and were looking to develop this area. People’s records demonstrated their choices of how they spent their time had increased and developed.